Review - Judge Dredd Judge's Handbook (MGP)

Judges Handbook (Mongoose Publishing)
System: Traveller
Campaign Setting: Judge Dredd

120page perfect bound softcover. Color cover, B&W interior, with thick paper.

Description:
Uncover the secrets of the Justice Department in Mega-City One. Within this book, you will find all the methods, technologies and procedures the judges use to track down criminals. From the forensics of Tek-Div to the Manta Prowl Tank, there is a tool to solve every crime, and your judges have access to them all.

The Justice Department provides new rules and options for judges as they patrol the streets of Mega-City One, and allows them access to the more elite divisions and promotions, allowing them to become Exorcist Judges, join the holocaust Squad, or even Acc-Div! If that is not enough to complete an investigation, then the judges will be happy to try out the latest weapons and equipment, straight from the workshops of Tek-Div.

This is one of those products you almost need if you're playing Judge Dredd games, and I'd say it's must have for a prolonged campaign. Within this handbook lies the secrets of all the divisions of Mega-City One.

Chapter 1: 17...SEVENTEEN character creation 'templates' for creating seasoned judges attached to one of the many specialty divisions, from advanced training of seasoned judges, to common specialties like Heavy Weapons Judge, Riot Squad Judge, Wally Squad (undercover) and COE (covert operations) Judge; to the mostly NPC roles of Harbor Squad, Sector Chief, and SJS Squad (Special Judicial Service (aka Internal Affairs). This one section greatly expands the entire universe of Dredd. Each specialty is just like a standard character creation table, Survival, Training, Requirements, Mishap and events tables. Training in a Specialty Judge role represents 1 year of training. Allowing characters to expand their characters in a quick and easy way, taking them off-camera for a year.

With the way I plan on Running Judge Dredd, ala FATE style, letting the players call their own shots, I was thinking of letting the players roll up the additional characters, so when they call in back-up, they're not calling in NPCs, they're calling in their own secondary characters, with their own back stories, personalities, and skills. This also lets players take more control of Mega-City One. Hell I'd probably occasionally let them bring Dredd in and run him once or twice just for the experience of running Dredd. Of course, they'll also be called in to back-up Dredd occasionally.

Chapter 2: the Equipment chapter, what can I say that I haven't said before, I'm a softy for Gear, junk, weapons, etc. So this chapter is right up my alley. This chapter incudes EVERYTHING from Holocaust Suits, Blast Shield, Riot Shields, and Armor; up to Special Issue Equipment like Cling-Nets, Com-scan, EpiStrip, Modular Repair Kit, and Space Boots. Weapons? Drokk yeah! 35 weapons, from the lowly sawed off stub gun, to the Blockbuster cannon present on the walls of Mega-City One, and the Omni Tank. This adds in most of the rest of the stuff missing from the main rulebook.

Chapter 3: Vehicles & Robots Chapter. 18 vehicles, this encompass the aforementioned Omni Tank, A-, S- and HH-Wagons, and other specialty vehicles of the Justice Department. Three spacehips, the Hubble attack Ship, Justice Pod, and Titan Shuttle make up the rest of the vehicles. Then come the Robots, always the Robots, do you have your Robot Insurance? 8 robots, Large Warbot Droid,

Chapter 4: More details on the Justice Department, Atlantic Division, COE, Immigration, Personel, Space Corps, Street Division, Undercover Divisions, all expanded. A Bunch of Backup units are described, stuff every Judge would know about. Gunbirds, Manta Prowl Tanks, K-unit, Long Gunner (aka sniper), Pursuit Squads, etc. Finally, A Bunch of Sample NPCs are given stat blocks, always useful for a Game Master.

Chapter 5: This flshes out Sector 13, the sample sector given to players to run as their sector, away from Dredd's sector. It gives descriptions, simple maps of most of the Sector House. Everything a growing Judge needs. Including Iso Cubes for those Perps that need putting away. Then, to make the Sector come alive, Dock 13, contacts, perps, and establishments round out the book.

Overall Rating: 18/20 Excellent proof-reading, lots of content, useful for advanced players and any game master running a Judge Dredd campaign.

Value: $29.99 for hard-copy, a bit pricey for a soft-bound at 120 pages, but as it's a supplement that is less used, it's going to cost a bit more. However, the PDF is currently available at Drivethru for $16.79.

Edit: Sorry, the formatting was jacked!

Reviews - Judge Dredd RPG (Mongoose)

JUDGE DREDD RPG (Mongoose Publishing)

Mega-City One - a vast metropolis where each of 360 million citizens is a potential lawbreaker. Patrolling these mean streets are the judges, tough lawmen of the future, trained to keep the peace and equipped to take on the criminals of the 22nd Century. Toughest of them all is Judge Dredd, for he is the Law, and you'd better believe it creep!

Judge Dredd is a new setting for the Traveller roleplaying game, in which you take on the role of Mega-City One judges, patrolling the streets astride your Lawmaster bike, ready to defend the city's civilians against an array of foes.

Lavishly detailed as a full colour hardback, Judge Dredd will take your Traveller games to somewhere they have never been before!

JUDGE DREDD requires the use of the TRAVELLER Rulebook, conveniently available in Little Rulebook format for $20.

I must say, having run generic TRAVELLER several times now, I'm REALLY looking forward to running the Hot Dog Run scenario I'm prepping for JUDGE DREDD  I have seen the older Dredd editions, and this one is by far the Best I've seen so far.

Chapter 1: Character creation
Using the TRAVELLER style character creation starting at age 5 instead of 18, using full d66 for event tables. Term 1 is age 5-8, Term 2 is 9-12, Term 3 (age 13-16) is where the creation really starts getting interesting, this is where the character ends up with a Judge division, Psi, Tek, Med or Street Judge, culminating in the mandatory Hot Dog run. Each division has its own Mishap tables as well. Term 4 is the final term, culminating in Full Eagle Day. Fifteen years of training, put to the test on the actual streets of Mega-City 1, under the eye of a  Full Judge, who assesses whether the candidate has what it takes to be a Judge. This character creation makes a stronger starting character than the Traveller character, but that's good since most starting characters in Traveller wouldn't last long as a Judge.

Chapter 2: Skills & Special Techniques
This chapter lays out news skills and special techniques, which are like Feats in the OGL system. A very good additional system for bringing the life of  a Judge together. These special techniques make the Judges feel like they're a step above the rest of the populace, and provide lots of opportunities for for role-playing, and making each judge feel a bit more unique as most starting characters will have only 1 or 2 from 21 different techniques. Short but jam packed chapter.

Chapter 3: The Justice Department
Every player not fully familiar with Judge Dredd should read this chapter, It would be basic information every cadet should know after having spent 15 years in the Academy. This chapter starts to bring the world of Mega-City 1 to life.

Chapter 4: I am the Law
Most people probably think playing a judge means executing wrong-doers immediately, however, playing Lawful Stupid in Judge Dredd is a good way to get yourself executed by another Judge. Often the perps will be captured alive, and have to be transported to a holding post for questioning and sentencing. A great portion of the chapter is dedicated to laying out the codes, section and what the sentencing is. (This would be a good handout for players to have, letting them flip through the codes to mete out justice.) Backup indicates what kind of help a Judge may call on when they're in over their head. Lastly the "Mega Rackets" are covered, this is the organized crime portion, and always a good opponent for a good group of Judges.

Chapter 5: Equipment
You got it, the chapter on the equipment, from the Lawgiver, the Lawmaster and Judge standard issue equipment, wonderful detail is presented here, with 3D CGI renderings of many weapons. One of the great things about Judge Dredd is 35 years of gadgets to give characters, challenging the characters which gadget to use to proceed in the game. Food, accommodations, illegal paraphernalia, etc is covered, a great book with plenty in it.


Chapter 6: Megways and Skedways
You can't get around MegaCity One without knowing the terms, From the Judge's Lane, to the Megway to an Eeziglide, this chapter covers it all, and the vehicles which travel on said 'ways.


Chapter 7: Mega-City One
Twenty Eight pages of coverage for Mega-City One and the rest of the Earth, from Cursed Earth, to East Meg One, Atlantis, and out to the Space Colonies. It covers recreation, sports and daily life. There's a section on tips for bringing th  mega-city to life, which unless you've lived in Hong Kong, New York or other mega city, you will have trouble imagining it at all. It has a couple of charts to help

Chapter 8: Thought Crimes
This is the Psionics chapter, which Psionics are a bit different than Traveller psions, but they operate under the same general rules.

Chapter 9: Crazies, Fatties, Muties and Perps
The monster book...From classic Dredd villains like Judge Death and the Angel Family to generic crazies, muties and perpetrators of crime. Plenty of charts help round it out, letting you make a plethora of baddies to challenge your Judges.

Chapter 10: Robots
With events such as the Robot Wars, and Walter the servant robot, it's bound to have robots, with a couple of Charts and Lots of Robot stat blocks.

Chapter 11: Mac's Database

A Timeline chapter. pretty straight forward, especially useful if you haven't read 30 years of Dredd.

Chapter 12: Sector 13
A Sample Sector for players to run in. It's not Dredd's sector. Population 1.5 million. With that many people to care for, there should be plenty for characters to do.With the following Blocks: Buzz Aldrin block, Jon Bon Jovi Block, Jimmy Gandolfini, and Bruce Springsteen block among others, interject it with an additional Justin Beiber Block that houses the worst scumbags in the sector and you've got a place to run.

Artwork:  This is a full color book, with lots of artwork from the comics, beautiful full  city panorama which make help bring the immensity of the city to mind.


Family Rating: Teen (The world of Mega-City 1 is a brutal place, with Block Wars, senseless violence due to boredom and various other wars, the players will have to make moral decisions about killing and violence in a non-fantasy setting, against humans, most often.)

Cost: $49.95 Print Version ($29.99 for PDF at Drive Thru RPG)

Value: If you're a role-player and you're a JUDGE DREDD fan this is a must have. It's gorgeous, well written and a classic, using TRAVELLER rules makes it simple to run.

Reviews - Iron Kingdoms RPG (Character Creation)

So, since I got Iron Kingdoms  last week, I've been delving farther and farther into it, I just completed the first character for it, An Iosan Cutthroat Mage Hunter. 

Character creation is simple, no dice, nothing random about it. It consists of 5 steps.

1. Choose Character's Race.
2. Choose an Archetype
3. Choose 2 careers
4. Increase Stats
5. Finishing Touches

Step 1: Race
Race affects everything, from maximum stats, access to archetype, access to specific careers, and each race has additional characteristics. For example, only an Iosan may become a Mage Hunter, while a Dwarf gains a connection to his clan, and the load bearing ability, while Ogrun have huge stature allowing them to wield two handed weapons in 1 hand at a -2 penalty, but an Ogrun using a pair of Caspian Battleblades or Mauls is just so cool.  Race is basically the most important choice.

Having already decided that Kae Im'dee was going to be a Mage Hunter, this left me with no real choice as far as race selection. Iosan's believe that human arcanists are responsible for the loss of the majority of their gods due to the effect of their magics. Mage Hunter is an Iosan only Career. Kae was Iosan. Cool thing about Iosans is that they actually get to select an extra ability from their careers. I noted down the starting values for an Iosan:

PHY:5 (spd:6, str:4)

AGL:3 (prw:4, poi:4)

INT:4 (arc:-, per:3)

Two languages Shyr, and another

Additional ability (Parry ability from Mage Hunter is what I ended up choosing.)

Step 2: Archetypes
Four archetypes consist of Gifted, Mighty, Skilled and Intellectual. Each archetype has its own list of specific feats, most of which are only available via the archetype. Gifted is a required choice for six of the careers, the magical careers, Arcane Mechanik, Arcanist, Gun Mage, Priest, Sorcerer, and Warcaster. Some careers are only available as a starting career, The Aristocrat, Iron Fang*, Sorcerer, Stormblade*, Trencher*, and Warcaster (*these additionally are restricted in their additional career choices.)

For Kae, I decided on the Mighty archetype, because I chose the Vendetta ability, allowing her to increase her chances of getting in an killing her intended prey, as quickly and efficiently as possible. 

Step 3: Careers
You choose two careers, each career determines what Starting abilities and skills, spells and assets you receive.

Making a Mage Hunter NPC, I decided to make her deadly, and combined Cutthroat with Mage Hunter. Cutthroat giving her the starting abilities of Anatomical Precision, Backstab & Prowl, plus the following skills Hand Weapon, Thrown Weapon, Intimidation, Sneak, and Streetwise. This combined with Arcane Assassin and Iron Will abilities, and Hand Weapon, Crossbow, Climbing, Jumping, Sneak and Tracking. I need to figure out if the two skill 1 skills stack to become a skill 2 or are lost. (Edit, after more extensive reading, yes, overlapping starting skills start at level 2, this makes her a brutal mage hunter, able to sneak in and engage those pesky human mages with nasty efficiency.)

Step 4: Increase Stats
Each character gains 3 ability increases for their stating character. Then fill out the Life Spiral (a nifty little way to track damage, more on this in the combat review.

For Kae I chose Phy, Spd & Poi as I want her to be able to hit and run, while surviving a bit of damage. 

Step 5: Finishing Touches

For my Cutthroat Mage Hunter, she received 150gold crowns (75 from cutthroat and 75 from mage hunter), but no actual gear, giving me the freedom to pick and choose gear. She ended up with a Repeating Crossbow (50 bolts and 2 spare magazines), Assassin's Blade, Kopis, Armored Coat, and a spyglass, plus some military rations, and a healing salve. Leaving her with 48 gc to grease palms and locate those ruinous human arcanists... Finalize the character sheet, by referencing the abilities, filling out skills, weapons, armor, defense armor and initiative values

The character creation experience was easy, required little page turning in reality and the lack of rolls means you don't have to worry when someone makes  a character at home...there's no way to cheat except with math and that's easily solved with a calculator. There's even a sidebar for experienced players being allowed to tweak the existing careers, to get something a little different. Perhaps your Pirate was the ship's surgeon, remove intimidate and substitute medic. Perhaps starting with a few extra XP to begin with (this is good for great backstories), since the game uses minor increases every few XP gained, it's not like creating a 2nd level character, more like a 1.25 level character.

Thoroughly enjoyable experience. Epic! Now if I can figure out how to work Aspects into the game....

Reviews - Abandoned Arts Archetypes (druid)

Another set of Abandoned Arts archetypes products rolling through, Barbarian, Druid, Ranger and Witch

Disclaimer: This is a review of a complimentary review copy of the product.

This is the review of the druid archetypes, it follows the formatting of the previous products. Four pages, a quick blurb of what an archetype is, 2 1/2 pages of actual product, followed by 1 page of the OGL. Cost $.99. 

This is one of the best I've seen so far.  It presents 3 very good archetypes: The Earthspeaker, the Faerie Thrall, and the Greenmind. 

The Earthspeaker: I really like the feel of this archetype, it replaces wild empathy, woodland stride, trackless step and wild shape with 3 alternate abilities. 

"The stoic circle of druids known as the earthspeakers take the concept of communing with nature to an extraordinary extreme, developing supernatural means of communicating – in a very literal way – with the earth itself."

Ask the Stone allows the Earthspeaker to, well, speak to earth, stone, crystals, etc, it's a really simple ability with limitless roleplay possibilities, especially for a savvy GM that can totally get into the character of simple stone.  Walk the world gives the druid the ability to move across dangerous mountain terrain faster, and tracklessly. Finally, Move the Earth is a special Charisma based check to produce different earth based effects, from spike stones to move Earth. very interesting ability.

The Faerie Thrall is an oft overlooked archetype for druids.

"While most druids enjoy a friendly relationship with many faerie creatures, some druids pledge their efforts (or submit their wills) as much to the furthering of ancient fey agendas as to the laws of nature or the cycles of the seasons."

This archetype consists of 4 abilities, though I'm not sure if the 20th level ability is supposed to replace an existing capstone or not as it seems like it merely adds a fairly minor ability modify memory, which has unlimited uses, making it a true capstone. The first thing a Faerie thrall must do, is choose whetehr to be part of the seelie or unseelie, which grants +4 saves versus non 'selected' magics, your court can affect you easier... The classic tropes of the pixie arrow and faerie dust appear as the Magic Darts (should have been faerie dust darts...) consisting of a charm monster ability, toned down by limited useage (1/2 druid level per day). Overall its a fun variant I plan to put to use as an NPC. The 9th level ability consists of taking  the fey's attributes, gaining the Fey Creature temple....with a very limited duration.

THE GREENMIND 

An ascetic and sage kind of druid, the greenmind pursues divine illumination and spiritual balance through a meditative process that brings him ever closer to the unknowable enlightenment of all things green and growing.

Oh this is a good one, simple and satisfying, giving up scimitar and all armors, this variant druid makes a lot of sense, gaining the ability to resist many spell-like abilities as a plant, and then to clothe themselves with the armor of the forest (up to +7 to AC), so not too shabby. The final ability lets the druid to take on the form of certain types of plant life.

Great addition to the game

A Solid 19 of 20! Critical Strike confirmed. Well worth 99 cents!

Reviews - Abandoned Arts Archetypes (Barbarian)

Another set of Abandoned Arts archetypes products rolling through, Barbarian, Druid, Ranger and Witch (same classes as the non-archetype products thus far, which is a bummer because my favorite classes for Pathfinder are Alchemist, Inquisitor and Oracle, but if abandoned arts can make as high of quality add-ons for those classes as they've made for these others I look forward to reading them.)

Disclaimer: This is a review of a complimentary review copy of the product.

First up is the Barbarian, which follows the formatting of the previous products. Four pages, a quick blurb of what an archetype is, 2 1/2 pages of actual product, followed by 1 page of the OGL.

There are three Barbarian archetypes presented, The Madman, the Reaver, and the Viking Marauder.


The Madman is an great idea, that fills a space I didn't even realize was missing.

"Some barbarians are inspired not by bloodlust or simple savagery, but by madness or dire occult powers. Such madmen are less martially inclined, but no less dangerous for their insane and unpredictable rage and their strange, supernatural powers."


The barbarian swaps 1/2 the additional rage rounds for access to a domain power. At 11th in lieu of greater rage, the madman gains a wisdom damaging attack.The End is Near is a very interesting capstone power, causing the barbarian to summon allies every round as their prayers to the outer powers hear their call, culminating in gate.

The Reaver is another good archetype, combining brutal sneak attacks and intimidation.

"The reaver is a death-obsessed berserker with a keen understanding of both death and fear. Favoring intimidating weapons and guerilla-style tactics, these terrible barbarians spread terror wherever they tread."

Giving up half their  additional rage rounds and damage reduction 1,2,3, & 4, for sneak attack dice.  Finally they can sneak attack those suffering from being shaken, frightened or panicked.

The Viking Marauder 

"In harsh northern climes, clans of seafaring marauders often band together to form raiding parties in order to survive. Though fearsome and sometimes barbarous, these brothers-in-arms are not without a sense of honor."

Not a big fan of this archetype. It's a very specialized archetype, with a real-world name. The viking marauder is a an interesting concept, Seafaring Scourge, is a skill bonus for sailor, survival, swim skills and a bonus movement for the marauder's vessel in lieu of fast movement. Raiding Party is a teamwork based ability. Marauder's Sails is another interesting concept, causing intimidation with the vessel itself due to the the marauder's fearsome reputation. The 14th level ability is extremely under-powered, being a +4 bonus to fear based will saves. At 14th level, it should be immunity to fear.

16 of 20, mainly for the concept of the madman, this one concept can easily be taken to other classes.

Reviews - Ultimate Equipment (PFRPG)

Ultimate Equipment - Paizo Publishing



The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (in reverse order)

OK, I decided to sit on reviewing this book in the hopes that it would grow on me. It hasn't, it's a standard compilation book of gear, with some new items added in. It could have been better, I expected better, I expected more. 

I had hoped to see the Wand Rifle from one of the 3.5 adventures brought into Pathfinder. This was the perfect opportunity to gather all of the Equipment tricks into one book and greatly expand them. 

The Ugly
I, unlike some others, dislike the new format, I think it worked for the Beginner Box, I don't think it works for Ultimate Combat. It feels, wrong, color header after color header for EVERY item, it hurts my brain to look at it. I hate it. It makes the book feel like a 4th edition book.



The Bad
I HATED the pilum picture in Ultimate Combat, I still hate the SAME picture. It's NOT a pilum. The description for a pilum is wrong as well, that's not how they work. Why is it we get all these card pictures, which I've never been a fan of, for items we can find anywhere, but when it comes to all these exotic pre-historic weapons, nothing. How many new players know what an atlatl looks like? For some reason the wushu dart is wooden. Why is the wushu dart wooden?

There's no equipment tricks, Paizo created equipment tricks, this is the Ultimate Equipment book, why are there ultimately no equipment tricks?? Having a dozen or more new tricks would have really made the book more worth it.

$45 for an Equipment guide, it's 400 pages , but most of it is reprinted stuff, so while it is a big book, it's not a wholly original book. I appreciate the work that went into organization, but this one book is making me temper my Core subscription.

This should have been the perfect opportunity to add other prices for items so players in PFS don't outgrow certain "unique" items, just because you can't something like "Celestial Armor" in PFS into say...+4 chainmail, by paying the difference between a +3 and +4 armor bonus. Or at least adding "Celestial" into the Special Ability section. According to the magic item creation rules, it should be allowed, but it's a constant point of contention between GMs and players.

Mock armor...mockable...or...I do see an application in Golarion in having a Rasmiran 'priest' wear it to emulate a cleric's ability to wear armor.

The Good
It compiles equipment spread out in multiple locations into a single book.  I especially like the special material section.

The best part is the RPG Superstar items that made it into the book, wish mine was in there, but oh well.

Poison Rules, awesome. (was it published elsewhere first? I can't remember, I know however I sued similar rules houseruled earlier.) There should be similar rules for making alchemical items better, otherwise they're a low level only item.

Treasure generator...very reminiscent of the AD&D treasure generator, updated but not entirely innovative as the back-cover says.

The Color coding and page edge organization is brilliant, good job.

Artwork:
Yup, it has artwork, I just wish they'd stop using the card artwork, It usually is sporadic as to whether is actually fits the piece. I know they want to push the equipment cards, but they're just not all that. For example, in the picture above, that blue shield, under Celestial Shield, the description says, this gold-edged, yup the picture is gold edged, but the shield is scaled with a dragon skull on it, BAD art choice for a CELESTIAL shield, a silver and gold shield with an angel on it, that I would believe, but a blue scaled look with a dragon skull?

On the other hand the chapter artwork is as always gorgeous.

Value: This book should be indispensable, and to some people I'm sure it is,  but I don't absolutely need it...d20PFSRD has been doing just fine for locating stuff. It's a must-have PDF, it's a decent addition to a Pathfinder library for Gamemasters, I personally would get annoyed with players using it as a gear bible though.

Overall Rating:

12 of 20

I actually wish I had waited, I would buy the PDF separately, but the book to me isn't up to par. Had I seen it before the subscription kicked in, I would not have bought it.

I will be adding to the review as I look at it more. It's a big book, I'm sure I'll find more of the good, the bad and the ugly.

Reviews - Interface Zero Zeeks (Savage Worlds)

Zeeks! Psionics in 2088 (Interface Zero - Savage Worlds)
Published by GunMetalGames

Once more I'm reviewing a product from my favorite line of products for Savage Worlds. This one is a must have in reality, well must have if you want to run some psionics, and what Cyberpunk is complete without some mind magic?



WANNA PLAY SOME MIND GAMES?
When Hernando Vasquez walked into the North American Coalition embassy in Madrid and torched everything just by glaring at it, everybody knew: zeeks are among us. Some people hate 'em; some people love 'em. And make no mistake about it, tomo, that means most people either want to shoot them or use them to their own ends. But then I suppose that just makes life more interesting, ne?

HAVE YOU GOT WHAT IT TAKES?
Zeeks: Psionics In 2088 gives you an opportunity to explore the subculture of zeeks, either as a GM wanting to incorporate them into your game or a player wishing to play a psychic character. Whether you want to have a full-blown campaign focusing on the tumultuous world of psions, or just know what might be lurking back there in the shadows, we've got your back -everything from the Psi-Hunters who stalk zeeks to the fringe cults that worship them.
IN THIS BOOK YOU'LL FIND:

• Loads of information about psions and how they fit into the world of Interface Zero.
• Rules for creating psionic characters for Interface Zero, including new Edges, Hindrances and Powers.
• A new system for Savage Psionics, without the Power Points - and still Fast, Furious and Fun!
• More occupations for your characters, as well as new goodies from Malmart.
• Two complete Savage Tales and a half-dozen plot hooks to help bring zeeks into your game.
• Stats for new NPC friends and enemies, as well as stats for a few... other things.

This is an expansion for Savage Worlds Interface Zero, and not a stand-alone game.



Format: I'm reviewing the PDF format provided to Epic the RPG Blog for review purposes.

Page thru: Paging through this book you'll find it is full-color, and has lots of art, including several full page pieces. I right away notice new edges and hindrances. I also notice several pieces of gear, everyone needs a little bit of gear in a cyrberpunk game.

Main Review: OK we start out the book with some good story fluff. The very first piece of fiction covers what's going on in the picture on the cover. A picture is worth a thousand words, but then you get the words too. The introduction covers research and origins with a historical reference to the research both the US And USSR did during The Cold War. Love that GMG gets those details into IZ.

Chapter 1: 2088 Through the Eyes of a Zeek
This chapter is told from the perspective of a zeek talking about what it's like to live as a zeek in the world of 2088. What countries it pays to be known and what countries it pays to keep the the shadows. It then drops into a section on 'zeekisms', from psychic vampires to religious stigmas clouding the view of what a seek actually is. Every zeek pretty much believes in Shangri La, a place where zeeks are welcomed with open arms, just not too many can actually agree on where it is. (Leaving that up to the GM...I like it.) That section finishes with Psiders, thought eating monsters that love to prey on zeeks. Who's a zeek? Well typically only humans, sims, androids and AIs aren't psions (though there is a direct contradiction about sims, thinking that was an extra that got missed in editing.) What flavors do zeeks come in, well, there's zeeks, freeks, peeks and tweeks. Zeeks being the catch-all term for psions. Peeks are mind readers, psychometers, and clairvoyants. Tweeks have powers that generally cause destruction, like a pyromancer, or cryomancer or any other mancer you can think of. Freeks being the bastard child of psions, they're the ones who exhibit strange powers; teleportation for example. With all these psions running around, there's going to be those who hate them, those that worship them, and those that hunt them. The final sections of Chapter 1 covers Psi-Division, Cults and orders and Hate groups.

Chapter 2: Building a Better Psychic
Best part of this book, is the new Power (psionics) system, it's very familiar but tweaked enough to really change it without making it something you really have to learn. First power points are not used to fuel powers, but as a bonus modifier to cast them, failed rolls can now inflict Fatigue, so they provide an optional rule for adding another level of Fatigue, to make Zeeks a little more durable in that regard. To have a zeek you must choose the Arcane Background (Psionics) Edge, as well as an additional minor hindrance, which doesn't count as a choice, so you can still have additional hindrances as normal.

Five new Hindrances are presented: Debt (LOVE this one, minor nets you a single purchase of up to 15k, but a 500/month upkeep, while major doubles those numbers...fail to keep your upkeep and you might just be getting a house call from your loan shark.), Shakes (which are pretty brutal unless you pay the 500creds per month for your meds.), Stress Trigger (which can cause psychic powers to go off at the wrong time), Weak Zeek (weaker starting power of 1) and Latent Talent (which requires two advances to buy off and lets the GM select your powers, though any powers you haven't had manifest randomly can still be chosen when you buy it off).

Eight new edges are presented in the Edges section, and also points out the ones that do not fit Interface Zero. It overhauls the other Powers Edges to fit the system. Freek, Peek and Tweek give you bonuses when using related powers. If you don't want to be a full blown zeek, Wild Talent gives you a single minor power. Psychic Leech is particularly nasty, causing other people within range to suffer the fatigue when the Zeek uses their powers (it's a contested roll, not automatic). Enhanced Ability allows a zeek to take a power from a higher power level, so a seasoned zeek could take a legendary power, failure costs double fatigue however. Mind over Matter lets the zeek soak fatigue with a successful spirit roll, pretty handy in a drawn out combat. Finally, PSI-Hunter grants bonuses for locating zeeks.

Seven new occupations are presented, from the Fortune Teller to the Waitress. However unlike the occupations presented in the Core rulebook, these have a bit more info included, like suggested pre-reqs. Now I'll have to go back and create the same for the other occupations, however this gives me lots of ideas for my Savage Rifts conversion work.

Some good additional information in this chapter is the Fatigue Results chart and the Oops factor table. Eight additional powers are also presented in this chapter, including such classics as astral projection, and telepathic link. Filling in some needed gaps in powers to bring that classic psion feel to Savage Worlds.

Chapter 3: Malmart 2088 Fall Update
I do love gear, I'm really looking forward to the Malmart book when its coming out, so I enjoy every bit of gear I can read in these books. N-Vogue programmable clothes are pretty epic, and I actually wonder how many years it will be before these are reality. The Lone Rider .30cal rifle is good in either single shot or burst mode. The I-Spex and disposable I-Spex are perfect for those who don't have a TAP, allowing visual interface with the Hyper-reality of 2088. Kilner Specs, Kirilian Damper, Psi Enhancer and Psi-kick fill out the rest of the Malmart update.

Chapter 4: Savage Tales...Zeek Style
Two fleshed out tales are presented in this section as well as seven short plot hooks. Lots of quick to run adventure ideas in here, should help out any game master.

Chapter 5: Friends and Foes
A couple of major players are presented first, they could have used up some additional text space to expand them. Generic Zeek, Psi Division Analyst, Psi Division Soldier, Psider, Psychic Vampire, Zeek Ganger (urban), and Zeek Ganger (wastelander) round out the 'Other Threats' in this section. 



Artwork: GunMetal makes sure great artwork is used in their book, full color with lots of setting specific flavor. There are an awful lot of full page pieces for such a small book. There are 5 full color pages, which are gorgeous pieces, very good quality, but lots of realty space.

Rating: 

of 20


Cost: $8.99 for the PDF at Drive-thru RPG. You can also purchase the print/pdf bundle from Cubicle 7 for $14.99.

Value: If you're wanting to run Psions in Interface Zero, this is not a must have as you can use the normal Arcane Power for it, but it is well worth it for a well-crafted rule addition.

Review - Earthdawn Player's Guide (Savage Worlds edition)

Earthdawn Player's Guide (Savage Worlds edition)
Author: Hank Woon

Last Month, I reviewed the Pathfinder Edition of the Earthdawn Player's Guide, and I wasn't as jazzed about it as I had hoped, as some of the design decisions took away some of the feeling of Earthdawn, specifically the spell casting aspects. I'm happy to say that the Savage Worlds edition does not lack in that aspect.

Disclaimer: Once again, this PDF was provided to Epic RPG Blog for review purposes.

THE AGE OF LEGEND
Before science, before history, there was an Age of Legend... For years humanity huddled in underground kaers, as the astral beings known as the Horrors ravaged the land in an orgy of terror and destruction. Now the long, dark age of the Scourge has passed, and the brave adventurers emerge to reclaim their world.
Elf, ork, t'skrang, human, and other wondrous races explore a world that teems with strange creatures and unseen dangers; a world of lost cities, or ancient, long-forgotten treasures and idescribable wonders; a world where the very earth and sky vibrate with powerful arcane energies.
The Earthdawn® Player's Guide contains what every Savage Worlds player needs to create one of these brave heroes and help rekindle the glory of days past, including new races, gear, spells, Edges, and rules for being an Adept. Join the adventure and begin roleplaying in Earthdawn, the Age of Legend!
Earthdawn® Player's Guide™
Savage Worlds Edition Core Rulebook
Published by RedBrick LLC
Format: 280 pages, 6.14" x 9.21", B+W Interior

Earthdawn® is a registered trademark of FASA Corporation. Barsaive™, The Adept’s Way™, and Earthdawn® Player’s Guide™ are trademarks of FASA Corporation. Earthdawn® First Edition Material copyright © 1993–2012 FASA Corporation. Published by RedBrick LLC under license from FASA Corporation—Made in the USA. Copyright © 2012 FASA Corporation, RedBrick LLC. All rights reserved. This game references the Savage Worlds game system, available from Pinnacle Entertainment Group at www.peginc.com. Savage Worlds and all associated logos and trademarks are copyrights of Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Used with permission. Pinnacle makes no representation or warranty as to the quality, viability, or suitability for purpose of this product.


What you get: a 280 black and white PDF in 6.14" x 9.21" format.

Main review: One of the things I look for in a Savage Worlds book is mining ideas for my SAVAGE RIFTS conversion. This book definitely delivers in that arena. The disciplines from Earthdawn are presented as a series of Discipline edges, so there's plenty of ideas in there to mine. There are over 150 (I think I counted 188) adept edges, which are powered by karma points. It's a pretty good system it looks like, with adepts gaining two free adept edges per tier. Using karma points to power the adept edges keeps them from completely over-powered while making sure it feels like Earthdawn.

Overall the entire Earthdawn Savage Worlds edition does capture the feel of Earthdawn while maintaining the "Fast, Fun and Furious" aspect of Savage Worlds. The magic system refers to spell matrixes, though it's slightly different, as the matrix contain threads (power points). The system works fairly well as a standard Savage Worlds system. However, in my typical house-rule fashion, I would change it a little bit (instead of having 3 spells to start I would allow Smarts number of spells, but only allow 2 to be in the matrix, giving it a more Earthdawn flavor and making it have better utility. Additional matrices would be allowed as advances.

Chapter 1 & 2 are the same fluff you get in the Player's Guide for Earthdawn and Pathfinder. The story Inheritance, followed by Chapter 2's history, WHICH if you're not familiar with the World of Earthdawn, can be quite interesting. While there are Elves, Dwarves, Trolls and Orcs, they're not the exact same as other fantasy games, in fact, in Barsaive, dwarves are the most numerous race with approximately 32% being dwarf.

Chapter 3 covers character creation. This flows very similar to standard Savage Worlds character creation. Race, traits and derived stats are all very similar, though you start to see some variation in Edges, as you get TWO free adept edges, in addition to a Discipline edge; making Earthdawn characters a bit more powerful at character creation than perhaps a Seasoned character (which works with the fluff of Earthdawn, as adepts are much more advanced than non-adepts.) Next comes a list of forbidden and modified edges and hindrances. Gear comes next in character creation, using Earthdawn silver standard prices. Finally creation rounds out with background. Characters can choose from 8 races, dwarf, elf, human, obsidimen, orc, troll, windling or t'skrang. Most of those are obvious; though windlings, obsidimen and t'skrang are a bit different. Windlings being 18" tall fae that can only fly for short periods of time. Obsidimen are rock-like beings which are from various 'liferocks' around Barsaive. T'skrang are flamboyant pterodactyl headed lizard'man style race. The normal earthdawn Disciplines (read as a class for those who are unfamiliar with Earthdawn), are represented by edge choices with the 'free' discipline edge determining what discipline you start as. (as far as I can tell you can still train a second discipine in EDSW, just like in Earthdawn, of course it works a bit different in Earthdawn, as you could RAW, have every available discipline.)

Chapter 4 is more fluff from Earthdawn. This covers what it means to be an Adept. It gives lots and lots of information for each of the different disciplines. Basically, being an adept means that magic is strong enough in you that it flows through you and powers your abilities with magic. Each discipline guides your world view, an archer typically sees the world in arcs with various obstacles to overcome while a Warrior sees life as a conflict to be overcome. AThief sees everything in the world as riches to be won. Understanding what it means to be your discipline guides you on your path in life. Your discipline is more of a definition than your race.

Chapter 5 this is the edges chapter. Hank Woon went nuts in this chapter, converting most of the talents in Earthdawn into Edges! I mean there's almost 6 and a half pages of TABLES. Not descriptions, TABLES. There are 26 pages of descriptions of the edges. There are plenty of rock'n edges that can easily be lifted for conversions to other games. This book is gold if for nothing more than the massive number of edges.

Chapter 6 This is the Magic chapter, it's a fluff chapter, but it's really light, pretty much glazing over some information about thread magic, patterns and blood magic. It gives the basic ideas behind the mechanics of Magic. For actual spells you need to go to the next chapter.

Chapter 7 Spells.  This is where the Savage Worlds edition did a better job than the Pathfinder edition at 'feeling' like Earthdawn. Power Points were given a quick name change to Threads. Mechanically this has no real different effect than a name change, but thematically it makes sense. As I said before, I think I would make Matrices act as the focus for which of your many spells you have available NOW. This is an issue that Savage Worlds has, and it's one of the few things I don't like about Savage Worlds, same as I don't really like Sorcerers in Pathfinder because they lack the utility of choice. In Savage Earthdawn, you suffer even more by being limited to THREE spells. Thus making spell casters a poor choice to me, and spells like Crunch Climb a trap that locks you into a limited use spell.

Chapter 8 Gear. Well it's a gear chapter, so of course there's gear in it, including the many cool items from Earthdawn that make it unique like the Tri-spear and Troll sword. Now I don't think it's perfect, for some reason dwarf swords actually give dwarves a bonus to parry, and only trolls can wield a troll sword one-handed, not obsidimen. I'm happy to see several things make it into this edition. Hawk Hatchets were always one of my favorite weapons in Earthdawn, so I'm quite pleased to see they made the cut. I'm also very glad to see that 'Mystic Armor' ratings made it. One of the other things that makes this version FEEL right. A minor issue in this edition is the lack of stacking armor. But with the smaller armor values it makes sense that stacking would cause issues. I would still allow armor to stack, taking the better value from the combined set. For example, wearing Fernweave over Chainmail would give +2 Physical/+4 Mystic armor. Another very Earthdawn set of items are blood charms, minor magic items that have many varied uses; Hank did another great job converting these items to keep the feel of them.

Chapter 9 covers religion, it covers the 12 passions, including the 3 passions who went mad during the Scourge. Now the difference between Passions and gods, is the fact that all the passions were once mortals. So they're more looked to as examples to strive towards. Questors are hinted at, but no edges are given for player Questors. Typically all the passions are given attention, but Questors actually strive toward the ideals of a single Passion and are typically rewarded with additional powers that they tap into with their magic.

Chapter 10 is about Barsaive, This is where the game takes place. Barsaive is Europe during the Age of Legends. It's a quick overview which is fine, as most players will be leaving their kaers (magically sealed underground cities) or citadels (magically sealed surface cities) and exploring the area around them at first, so you don't need too much information about the World, except that it's scary and for some reason the Horrors are not all gone. For some reason the magic levels which were supposed to drop back to nothing stabilized at a level high enough to sustain many horrible creatures, but also great challenges to make a legend for yourself with.

Available in PDF format from Drivethru RPG for $17.99 currently.

Family Rating: Rated T (violence and scary monsters)

Artwork: The book contains lots of the original artwork from the FASA edition, which keeps it feeling like Earthdawn.

Overall Rating:  This is a solid product with very few minor issues in this reviewer's opinion.

of 20   EPIC!

Review - Earthdawn Player's Guide (Pathfinder edition) Updated 4-5-2012

Earthdawn Player's Guide (Pathfinder Edition)
Produced by: RedBrick, LLC under license from FASA Corporation.
Written by: Hank Woon.

THE AGE OF LEGEND
Before science, before history, there was an Age of Legend... For years humanity huddled in underground kaers, as the astral beings known as the Horrors ravaged the land in an orgy of terror and destruction. Now the long, dark age of the Scourge has passed, and the brave adventurers emerge to reclaim their world.
Elf, ork, t'skrang, human, and other wondrous races explore a world that teems with strange creatures and unseen dangers; a world of lost cities, or ancient, long-forgotten treasures and idescribable wonders; a world where the very earth and sky vibrate with powerful arcane energies.
The Earthdawn® Player's Guide contains what every Pathfinder Roleplaying Game player needs to create one of these brave heroes and help rekindle the glory of days past, including new races, equipment, skills, spells, feats, and rules for being an Adept. Join the adventure and begin roleplaying in Earthdawn, the Age of Legend!


Earthdawn® Player's Guide™
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Edition Core Rulebook
Published by RedBrick LLC
Format: 284 pages, 6.14" x 9.21", B+W Interior


Wow, where to begin? Let's begin with the disclaimer, the PDF was provided to me by RedBrick for the purposes of review. Getting that out of the way; Earthdawn requires a different view of gaming, so the rules for the Pathfinder version Do Not, I repeat do not stick to pure Pathfinder Rules. This is going to upset some people looking to just have a Barsaive campaign setting using Earthdawn rules (If you want that, use the basic rules and just use the background info.) The rules presented in the EDPG (PFRPG) are more of a hybridization of Pathfinder and Earthdawn.

Remember my background, I'm a huge Earthdawn fan, I have a near complete set of 1st edition books (missing the Blades adventure, and the Earthdawn Journals). I have the LRG 2nd edition, and I have 3rd edition (all core plus Cathay). I've been involved with Pathfinder since Alpha Testing, and I am an Adventure Path charter subscriber. So I know both systems well.

The book starts out with the standard fluff that is in the Earthdawn books, including reference to spell matrices, which aren't included in the spell casting system. During Character creation you can use the standard Pathfinder point buy system, or you can use the optional point buy system that more resembles the traditional Earthdawn point buy chart. The races have different stat modifier numbers than normal PFRPG players are used to seeing, but, that is in the tradition of Earthdawn, so I see what direction the designers are coming from. Edit: This includes The prologue (16 page intro story), Chapter 1 and Chapter 2: Chapter 1 being an introduction to game concepts. Playing Earthdawn, Adepts, blood magic, karma, the importance of names, what the Horrors are and an introduction to the gods of Earthdawn, ascended mortals called passions. Chapter 2 is 14 pages of History, more fluff which is copied from the Earthdawn RPG, this covers the large amount of background information about why the inhabitants of Barsaive fled to their underground Kaers, to escape the monstrous Horrors. The history of the Barsaive province and their struggles with the nation of Thera. 


Chapter 3 launches into Character creation.  Note: This is where I need to do some play-testing and character creation to really see how everything is going to pan out. Additionally, I know there are some aspects that RedBrick is ironing out before it goes to print (these are partially being addressed on Paizo's forum, and RedBrick's forum.) Character creation is pretty Pathfinder standard, using Earthdawn races for ability modifiers, then choosing a class that qualifies for a discipline. Once you've chosen a discipline by selecting the bonus discipline feat, you gain access to the Adept skills in Chapter 5. Each discipline has access to different Adept skills. Earthdawn presents some standard races, alongside non-standard races. Dwarves, humans, and elves are the standard races, while orks, and trolls are classic monsters that are name giver races. (Name givers being the designation for the races which are true races, as they give themselves names, and all that goes along with those names.) The last three races are the capricious windlings (18" tall fairies effectively), and the pteradon-headed like t'skrang, who are the possibly the most flamboyant creatures in the Age of Legend, and the asexual beings that resemble rock, the obsidimen. One more name-giver race exists, but they are the dragons, but they are most definitely NPCs. An example of the attribute spread of the windlind: Tiny size, +1 Dex, -4 Str, -3 Con, +1 Int, +2 Cha. 


Each discipline has a prerequisite, for example, the Air Sailor currently requires the sneak attack class feature (this may change in the next week). Adepts gain adept skills as class skills, for example the Air sailor gains Air Sailing, Defense, Endure Cold, Great Leap, Thread Weaving [sky weaving], and Wind Catcher; while a Thief Adept acquires Fence, Gold Sense, Lip Reading, Quickblade, Sense Poison, Slough Blame and Thread Weaving [thief weaving]. So you can see where discipline choice is very important. 


Without knowing how Experience is going to be handled from the Game Masters guide, I don't know exactly how everything will work out, I mean will fighter based archer be completely inferior to a ranger based one simply because he has less skill points? Will the fighter based one be superior due to the extra feats. I'm still not sure how classes are handled specifically. I think that you can multi-class to your hearts content, though each of the adept feats (not adept skills) has requirements you might not meet if you aren't careful.


Chapter 4 is the fluff about role-playing these different disciplines, it covers more than 100 pages of the book.  This covers the reason adepts are different, each Discipline has its own mind-set, its way of viewing the world.  In Earthdawn 3e, this was compiled from multiple sources from the older editions, there's vast amounts of information for each discipline, and the majority of people who've played in games I've played in don't really read all this information, but those that do definitely have good direction as to how to play their characters. 


Chapter 5 covers Adept skills.
In this chapter is some of the major crunch. Adept skills are all (Su) abilities, and many are powered by karma. Karma being the magical energy all adepts tap into to power their mystical abilities. An example of an Adept skill would be the Air Dance skill for warriors, by using karma, the warrior is able to use this skill rank to add to their initiative roll. If they score high enough they even get an additional attack, as if affected by haste. Each discipline has access to skills which in some cases are unique, such as the air dance, or common, such a durability. Combining some of the Adept skills with certain feats, archetypes or class combinations in Ultimate Magic, Ultimate Combat or Advanced Player's Guide might have some serious balance issues, but Earthdawn is supposed to be high fantasy, so just throw bigger Horrors at them. 


Chapter 6 is Adept Feats
Adept Feats are all powered by karma, but are feat-like rather than skill based. It makes sense really, Pathfinder uses skills and feats, so Earthdawn uses both elements to encompass the slew of talents adepts in Earthdawn have. There are 113 Adept feats, from the Weaponsmith's Abate Curse to the Warrior Adept's wood skin feat. These are the heart of each discipline, the powerful abilities. The more powerful Adept Feats might require multiple karma points to use. 


Chapter 7: Magic
This isn't the spell casting chapter, this is the mostly fluff chapter regarding all things magic, from Astral space, to naming, blood magic, pattern items and of course, thread weaving. Effectively, the Age of Legend is teeming with magical energy, people places and items all have names, the more well-known it is, the more powerful those things can be. When someone says "Luke Skywalker" you automatically know who that is, where he's from, and what he's done, that's his legend, when you say "Darth Vader" you know who he is, and that his legend is different than "Anakin Skywalker", because the name change changed his pattern. 


Chapter 8: spells
This is the location of the spells for the four spell casting disciplines of Earthdawn, the Elementalist, Illusionist, Nethermancer, and of course the Wizard. While this chapter brings the specific spells from Earthdawn into Pathfinder Earthdawn, characters can still receive additional spells from the normal Pathfinder books. (Not in my game however...sorry no disintegrate or globe of invulnerability). 


Chapter 9: Equipment
Equipment, what characters need to survive, from the exotic blood pebble armor, to the horrific obsidimen skin armor. One thing I'm quite happy with is that they kept the silver standard in Earthdawn, so all the charts and tables are based around the use of the silver coin. The chapter includes all the mundane gear, and minor magic charms, plus trade goods, animals and transport. 


Chapter 10: Religion
In normal Earthdawn games, the Passions aren't truly gods, they're ascended mortals, who are looked upon as examples to strive toward. Questors attempt to gain favor by performing acts in the name of the passions, though three of the passions didn't survive the Scourge with their minds in tact. Dis, Raggok and Vestrial, are mad passions, they've taken their old portfolio and corrupted it. Each passion has a portfolio they represent thus a typical group of passions might worship them over another, Garlen the healer is less enticing to a warrior than Thystonius, who is the Passion of Physical conflict and valor, though pacifistic warriors might prefer following Garlen, as they know war is a horrible thing and aid and comfort must follow in the wake of conflict. 


Chapter 10: Barsaive (yes this is an issue in the book, two chapter 10s.)
This covers the province of Barsaive, formerly a part of the Theran Empire, one which refuses to allow Thera to regain control. Barsaive is a primarily dwarven province, with over 40% of the population being dwarves. 

There are definitely elements I wish I had seen in this edition that weren't there. I wish the spell system was there from Earthdawn, I love spell threads and spell matrixes. It is one of the things that set Earthdawn apart from D&D back in the day, the lack of the Vancian spell magic system.

Is this the game I would have done for Earthdawn Pathfinder? Not completely, I would have focused on using a different magic system which was more akin to Earthdawn.  I need to see what the Game Master's guide is like to make a really good assessment of the entire system. If the legendary items aren't an awesome system, then I don't know what to do.

I will definitely be trying the system out, there's a lot to it, and it will REALLY require some getting used to. But I might just prefer the Original Earthdawn, as it is one of my favorite systems. I think that the system has plenty of elements that bring the feeling of Earthdawn to Pathfinder. I will definitely have a different magic system in place, one that includes skill-based thread weaving, and the use of spell matrices. Without those two things in place, the threat of tainted astral space and casting raw just isn't there. Effectively all casting classes would need access to the spell matrix feats, they would have those spells in their matrix, and do a standard thread weaving check to make sure they can swap them out. This removes the 15 minute day that plagues Pathfinder to this day.

Cost: $29.99 for hard copy (when it becomes available), and $17.99 for PDF available at DriveThru RPG.

Value: Tough one, as I've stated before, Paizo set the bar on PDF sales. However RedBrick is a smaller company, so if you want to run this game, it's your call. Support a smaller game company because they're bringing something unique to the game.

Artwork: It features pretty much the same artwork from the older editions of Earthdawn (minus the crazy Mayan style covers from 3rd edition).

Rating: 

of 20



Earthdawn® is a registered trademark of FASA Corporation. Barsaive™, The Adept’s Way™, and Earthdawn® Player’s Guide™ are trademarks of FASA Corporation. Earthdawn® First Edition Material copyright © 1993–2012 FASA Corporation. Published by RedBrick LLC under license from FASA Corporation—Made in the USA. Copyright © 2012 FASA Corporation, RedBrick LLC. All rights reserved. Pathfinder is a registered trademark of Paizo Publishing, LLC, and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Compatibility Logo are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC, and are used under the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Compatibility License. See http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/compatibility for more information on the compatibility license. Compatibility with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game requires the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game from Paizo Publishing, LLC. See http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG for more information on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Paizo Publishing, LLC does not guarantee compatibility, and does not endorse this product.

Review - Savage Worlds Deluxe

Here we go, I picked up the Deluxe edition of Savage Worlds a while back. So here's the review.

Savage Worlds Deluxe Edition
Produced by Studio 2 publishing under license from Pinnacle Entertainment Group

Savage Worlds is a Fast! Furious! and Fun! rules system for any genre of roleplaying game. Create your own setting, convert an existing one, or pick up one of our amazing worlds like Deadlands, Slipstream, or Weird War II.The rules give players plenty of depth to create their characters and keep bookkeeping to a minimum for the game master. If you're looking for a game that's fast and easy to set up, run, and play, Savage Worlds is for you! 

Savage Worlds Deluxe is the newest edition, providing an update to the third printing of Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition. It includes rules updates, new rules material, new art, more examples, an expanded Setting Rules section, Designer Notes to give you an insight into the development, and much more. It does not, however, invalidate prior printings of the rules, which you can continue enjoy.

This is a hardcover printed book. Full color, full-size (8.5" x 11" pages), 160 pages.

What you get: You get a 160 page full color full-sized hard-bound book.

Main Review: There are pros and cons to this edition. Full-size books are good at attracting attention, and can actually make neophytes excited when they look at the book. Con, the $29.99 price tag versus the $9.99 price tag. Larger format and higher page counts give lots of room to add more stuff. Much of the Explorer Edition Review remains valid, the rule set really only has some minor tweaks, but is effectively the same system with some streamlined changes, especially the removal of the "guts" skill. 

If you're already familiar with Savage Worlds I'm sure you've already made your decision about the Deluxe edition. If you're new to the system just know that the game is Fast, Fun & Furious. The system can cover nearly any genre, but tends to break-down if you want truly powerful games. (Savage Suzeraine has rules covering higher power games, but even those rules can't cover mega-powerful combat, for that you need the Superpowers Companion.)

With the extra space in the book, they added an archetypes section, which lets new players pick an archetype and roll. New race options for characters, including a build your own race section, similar to what many other systems already had. 

Cost: $29.99 Print edition. $19.99 PDF @ Drive-thru

Value: I really feel that Pinnacle took a step in the wrong direction by driving the price-point so much higher. If Paizo can set the bar for a 500+ page book that retails for $49.99 at $9.99 for the PDF, Pinnacle should as well. If the price is too high people won't buy it, they'll steal it, because they're already feeling ripped off. I hope they return a smaller book for $9.99. Perhaps a Deluxe Explorer's Guide...There's enough new info in the books to justify the print copy, I can't bring myself to get a PDF of a book I have if it's too expensive. 

Artwork: Savage Worlds was already know for reusing artwork, this manual comes with lots of new art though. Pretty nice artwork, though it does have some reprints, which is fine because they work with the system. 

Family Rating: PG, for visual content (some artwork is mildly graphic)

Overall: 

of 20

It's good, but the wrong size.

Note: I will be adding additional content to this review as I continue to read the book, and note the changes. 

Comprehensive list of changes: (in work):

Guts skill removed in base

More races added

Race creation rules added

Chase rules added

Dramatic Tasks skill checks

Interludes added

Edges expanded to be more comprehensive

Optional rules by setting included

Review - Bestiary (Pathfinder)

I know I did the reviews backwards, but I bought the Bestiary long before I started the blog, I believe I even had B2 before then, so I'm working backwards.

Bestiary 
Paizo Publishing, LLC

Here there be monsters!


What is a hero without monsters to vanquish? This 328-page book presents hundreds of different creatures for use in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Within this tome you’ll find fire-breathing dragons and blood-drinking vampires, vile demons and shapechanging werewolves, sadistic goblins and lumbering giants, and so much more! Yet not all the creatures in this book are enemies, for some can serve lucky heroes as allies or advisors, be they summoned angels or capricious nymphs. And it doesn’t stop there—with full rules for advancing monsters, adapting monsters to different roles, and designing your own unique creations, you’ll never be without a band of hideous minions again!
The Pathfinder RPG Bestiary is the must-have companion volume to the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. This imaginative tabletop game builds upon more than 10 years of system development and an Open Playtest featuring more than 50,000 gamers to create a cutting-edge RPG experience that brings the all-time best-selling set of fantasy rules into the new millennium.

The Pathfinder RPG Bestiary includes:
• More than 350 different monsters
• Dozens of monstrous variants to modify creatures and keep players on their toes
• Numerous lists of monsters to aid in navigation, including lists by Challenge Rating, monster type, and habitat
• Extensive rules for creating effective and balanced monsters
• Rules for advancing monsters by hit dice, template, or class level
• Universal monster rules to simplify special attacks, defenses, and qualities like breath weapons, damage reduction, and regeneration
• More than a dozen feats tailored especially for monsters
• Suggestions for monstrous cohorts
• Two dozen additional animal companions
• More than a dozen different wandering monster encounter tables
• AND MUCH, MUCH MORE!
• ISBN 978-1-60125-183-1

What you get: This is the other half of the Core assumption of the Pathfinder Role-playing game. With over 350 monsters you can play entire campaigns using just the Core Rulebook and the Bestiary.  358 page hard cover full color with thick pages. 

Main Review: While you can play straight out of the book, they included monster design rules, so Game Masters that feel like they need to emulate something specific can do that as well. This book really set the bar for art for Pathfinder more so than the Core Rulebook. Many traditional monsters had face-lifts, or face asunders in the case of the Troll. The look of many monsters has really made them stand out as something special. Ogres really received an interesting change from their 3.5 counterparts, which was based upon the Rise of the Runelords ogres, rather than looking like some Japanese yokai, now they are hillbilly ogres; with all that entails, yes, I mean they have Ho-downs. 

The book covers the basics you need, demons, devils, dragons, lots of goblinoids, and many of the same monsters you'll find in the Monster Manual 1. They do deal with some things differently. XP using Pathfinder is given out by the monster more like 1st edition. There are icons on the name bar of the stat block, indicating creature type, climate and terrain. They handled creatures which normally advance by class differently by adding Character stats for races that have stat mods and racial abilities. The last major thing they added that I really love, is the variants. Skeletons don't include just the standard skeleton, they include two variants as well, basically a simple template to overlay to create even more challenges. 

Some classic monsters from the best of the best OD&D modules make their way into this Bestiary. Monsters such as the Froghemoth, and vegepygmy. Others are removed from their old roles, such as the retriever and kyton. While new categories separate old groups, such as the celestials being split into more factions, like the Azata, Archons and Angels. Of course the most famous of all the reworked monsters is that little ball of insanity, the Goblin.

Great monster book, as the core of Pathfinder, if you're running this game you need this book.

Artwork: One of the best things that Paizo has done is re-envisioned many of the monsters. Wayne Reynolds did the cover as usual, featuring a Troll, the new Goblins and a Marilith. Aditional art by 

Family Rating: As this is a core rulebook, I will add a family rating. Some racy artwork and some particularly frightening pieces (to young children) in the book, so I'd say rated PG, parental guidance is suggested.

Cost: $39.99 Print, $9.99 PDF

Overall Rating: Must Have

of 20

Review - Realms of Cthulhu (Reality Blurs)

 What says Hallowe'en better than CTHULHU!!!

Realms of Cthulhu (Savage Worlds Campaign Setting)

           This RPG uses the Savage Worlds Explorer’s Edition, which is required to play. No additional material is required. Produced by Reality Blurs, in print and PDF format under a license from Chaosium Inc.

First Glance:

            On the cover is a beautiful picture of Cthulhu in the depths of the ocean. As you start to page through the book, you notice quality. Lots of mood appropriate artwork, ancient sigils and full color thick glossy paper. (Though technically you should be able to produce a Pulp RPG on pulp paper to get the right feel…) The background page is even designed to look like a musty old tome. 

Main Review:

            As a setting for Savage Worlds, it requires the Savage Worlds Explorer’s Edition to play.  This is a 160 page book, of which only 35 pages are for the players, which leaves lots of campaign and special rules for the game master. The player section consists of character creation rules. Which edges are not available, Archetypes for investigators, starting cash for the different eras, 1890, 1920 and modern. Two new Knowledge Skills (Mythos) and (Psychology) are introduced, as are new hindrances and edges which are very appropriate for a Cthulhu Mythos. Next comes the Equipment section with example gear from the different eras, my favorite I think is the Luxury Cars for the 1920s era, including the Duesenberg and Rolls Royce Phantom.

            Next comes the Setting Rules, which are for both Players and GMs as it lets you customize what type of setting you want to run in, and introduces the sanity rules which use mental toughness. A gritty damage system is introduced which is even more deadly than the savage worlds damage system, this system can be used for both physical and mental damage depending on what style you’re using. For Example if you’re playing Heroic Horror, you use pulpy/pulpy while the Dark Spiral play type uses gritty/gritty, making the game extremely lethal. A few other options are included for Gamemasters while REALLY want to off the characters quickly. The harsh system removes the wild dice until they rank up to Seasoned, for example, and even then it’s a d4 until Veteran.

The sanity system is perfect, it definitely goes along the lines of the Fast, Fun and Furious.

           

Game Mastering:

            Amazing. The rest of the 124 pages is for the Gamemaster’s eyes, (AKA the Keeper in Cthulhu games.) With lots and lots of advice for running a Cthulhu Mythos game no matter which era you choose to run. A Full 20 pages is dedicated to Matters of Magic, detailing many grimoires, and of course casting Mythos spells, five version of the Necronomicon are detailed out.

            In the Mythos Tales section, a lovely “Mythos Tales Generator” is given which can generate an in depth adventure in minutes. For creating unique Mythos creatures a delicious “Creature Generator” is provided. Four nice Mythos Tale frameworks are given so you can have a ready adventure at hand pretty easily for a pick-up game.

The final chapter is the Citizens and Denizens, covering the supporting cast, which gives stat blocks for lots of  citizen types, from the Archaeologist, to the Military Officer, even the retired adventurer. The next section is Cultists and Creatures, covering standard cultists archetypes. Wild Cards are designated by the Elder Sign. The Nightmares are all covered, not with stat blocks in the case of the elder gods, they’re covered by write-ups in the Titans and Gods section. Many of the creatures are covered, from the Hounds of Tindalos, to the Mi Go, and even the Star Spawn of Cthulhu.

Artwork:

Epic! The artwork is appropriate and full color. While some isn’t on par with

Some of the best art in the industry it all fits the genre and is of good quality.

Replay Value:

Excellent. One of the things about Cthulhu style play is that you don’t expect to survive, well not with your mind intact anyway. So while you’ll remember how your character died, or snapped, you will be ready for the next adventure, with new and gruesome ways to die.

Comprehension Level: Excellent. The additional rules are well written and easy to understand.

Humor: It’s horror, not a lot of humor here, leave that for Cthulhu Munchkin, or the malicious laughter on the lips of the Keeper of the Forbidden Lore.

Family Rating:

PG-13/R, This is a dark setting as I said, it deals with the most evil of elder gods, the occult, drugs and black magic. Knowledge of the Mythos helps as well, and H.P. Lovecraft’s writing isn’t exactly on the kid’s shelf. Now for the teenagers, nothing beats a good Cthulhu tale late at night, better than  a ghost story if the atmosphere is right.

Price Tag:

This will set you back $39.99 MSRP for Print or PDF (price at time of writing is $25 on RPGNow).

Value:

Worth the money, with all the information contained, and the rule additions, this setting is a great value.

Overall Rating:

EPIC! If you enjoy Call of Cthulhu but prefer Savage Worlds this is a great resource, also the sanity rules will be making their way into my Savage Rifts game. (With some of the monsters…mwuahahaha)